Wednesday, October 31, 2012

i got a new wacom tablet for my birthday, and i've been having fun experimenting with it on pictures i have on my computer. so i thought it would be even more fun to do an update through my new tablet!

remember how we went to chicago this summer? here we are at the public artwork known as "the bean."

with the exception of teaching art lessons, i haven't been in the studio a whole lot lately. this past saturday was our annual halloween bash, which also serves as our youngest son's birthday party. the hit of the party is always the face painting booth my husbands does.

my art students have been doing some great fall inspired works. like these fab charcoal pumpkin gesture drawings. i'm a big believer in doing lots of gesture drawing!

after doing the charcoal studies, we did these oil pastel pumpkins on black paper, using color gradation to show volume. i got this idea from this exhibition on artsonia and tweaked it to fit my needs. my wednesday art class has one preschooler in it. can you find her pumpkin? i only turned my back for a second- lol

we've also done a lot of drawings and prints with leaves lately. i love how these abstracted leaves came out. i got this idea from the art education blog adventures of an art teacher. we did ours with oil pastels and watercolors using complimentary colors.

as for the wacom tablet, i need to practice a lot more with the pen, but i think i'm getting the hang of it!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

last weekend i went back to my home town for my 20th high school reunion. one of my high school friends who did not go texted me and asked me how it was. i told him it was both very cool and very weird at the same time. doesn't the concept of time just blow your mind?

the drive to san antonio from dallas is a good 4 1/2 hours, which gives a person plenty of time for reflection. much of the drive i was remembering this post by kelly rae roberts that i had the good fortune to read just before i left. serendipity? i hope you'll click over and read it. look at those girls there! so cute...so young. i really had no clue back then...

i hadn't been back to my home town in at least 15 years. and the actual school...it had been the full 20. almost every single thing about the town (and the people!) had changed so much. it was overwhelming. the stadium, however, seemed very much the same. talk about stepping back in time!

homecoming game at my old high school

day 2 was a different kind of home coming, as we had the annual texas association of schools of art conference (which my husband is now
president of!!!) at my old college, utsa. but that, my friends, is a whole other post.

this week...here's to serendipity, renewed friendships, and coming home!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

don't you just love it when you come across something awesome you made that you totally forgot you made!? enter these collaged skulls i recently found in my halloween stash. i made these last year (you can see the original post here) and i just love them!

so, by the way, does my 4 year old. possibly a little too much, as the photos he insisted i take of him posing with them clearly show. lol

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

jessica swift posted this on her blog on septmenber 27th (that tells you how far behind i am.) in fact, this post was sitting in there with about 200 others i'm behind on reading. but, for some reason, i decided to click on this one. lol- messages from the universe, right!? so...i figured i would pass it on.

why julia?

i use the name julia for all my art. it all started back in college as a tribute to my great- grandfather, who left me the money to pay for my art degree. he called me julia.

Welcome to jaeartworks!

i truly hope you find yourself inspired, but please remember that all images and artworks are protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, displayed or published without permission of julie hernandez!